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While bike-sharing services are becoming more common in major cities in Europe and the U.S., Toyama will be the first to introduce such a full-scale system in Japan. A total of 150 bicycles will be installed at 15 self-service stations in the central part of the city. Pre-registration is required to use the service, and registered users can pick up and return bicycles at any time at any rental station.
The service will be operated by Cyclocity, Inc., which was established as a subsidiary of JCDecaux, a French outdoor advertising company, with the aim of specializing in providing bike-sharing services in Japan. JCDecaux has managed bike-sharing services in 64 European cities, and boasts the largest number (42,000) of rental bicycles in the world.
Cyclocity plans to open an office in Toyama City to operate services such as the repair, maintenance, and re-distribution of bicycles between the stations.
[Newsletter] Using Bicycles Efficiently to Create a Sustainable Society No.53 (January 2007)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/
027820.html
Cyclocity Inc. official website
http://en.cyclocity.jp/misc/construction.html
(Courtesy of Japan for Sustainability)

Greenland Requests Humpback Kill Quota
By Hardy Jones
There is a new and serious threat to humpback whales, some of the most beloved animals on earth. The whales under the gun are those that migrate as far as Greenland along the eastern seaboard of North America.
At the latest meeting of the International Whaling Commission Denmark requested a quota of fifty humpbacks for Greenland to kill as part of its aboriginal hunt. What is strange about the request is that Greenland agreed to reduce its take of minke and fin whales which is already allowed by the IWC. Greenland will thus net less whale meat while infuriating millions of people who love humpbacks, many of them by personally seeing them along the coasts of New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada.
It is my belief that Japan is behind this move. Japan tried to get a quota to hunt humpbacks in the Antarctic last year but withdrew the request in the face of international outrage.
What can we do to stop the hunt of humpback whales? Contact the U.S. White House and ask President Obama to take a strong stand on behalf of whales and to particularly oppose the quota for humpbacks. If this quota is granted to Greenland, Japan will then demand its own quota and the threat to this highly endangered species will expand.
Contact U.S. President Obama
Link to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact the Danish Prime Minister at stm@stm.dk
(From BlueVoice.org)